from one to another

saturday marked the end of the timothy volleyball season this year. we made it to the regional final match, but lost in a tough 3 set match to immaculate conception high (in illinois, you go through regionals and then sectionals.....and you only play best of 3 matches). the girls played so hard and had some pretty amazing saves....at one point i even cracked the corner of my clipboard off b/c i was so excited about a diving save by our libero! :) i had such a great group of girls this year - of course we had our struggles, but they had so much fun as a group and had great team chemistry, which isn't really something you can coach.

with the end of volleyball comes the beginning of basketball. no rest for the weary - freshmen girls bball practice starts tomorrow afternoon! i think i have a small team again this year, so no worries about playing time or making sure the girls get in good shape. matt's already started bball season and has a full week of practice to go along with parent teacher conferences this week...it will be a busy week for him!

last weekend, i was able to go back to dordt to visit my brother, see a few volleyball games, and be at van den bosch's reception. it was a great weekend away to visit friends and family....and really fun to see some high level volleyball again.

some pictures of jill (and her baby #2) and i....

and with coach...

colorful

there is no doubt that fall is absolutely my favorite season - the sound of crunching leaves....volleyball season....harvest season....cool enough to open up the windows all day long....and of course all the reds, yellows, and oranges of trees and birds. yes, birds. it's not every day that i go for a run (i could end the sentence here, but that's not the point :) !) and see a man walking his parrot. well, i did...just last week. it made me a little nervous with it just perched on the man's arm with nothing restricting it from flying right off and right at me. i just avoided parrot eye contact and picked up my pace. thankfully no harm done, but i did find out that parrots are pretty loud birds - i could still hear it squawking after i was an entire block away, over the sound of my music. i guess parrot pets need some fresh air every once in a while too....

our volleyball season is nearing the end. we have 2 more conference games this week and then we start playoffs the following week. the girls have done great this year...our current record is 21-12, and 2 conference wins this week would put us in a 3-way tie for 1st in the conference. last week we honored eight seniors at our last home game. that was a little bittersweet...i have been coaching four of these seniors all 3 of my years here at timothy. they are a great group of girls and it won't be quite the same without them.

last week we also took part in a volley for the cure game. here's the team with their pink jerseys for the night...

matt's parents came to visit this weekend and toughed out a long day on the bleachers at my vball tournament. i've had family come to 3 of my 4 tournaments (outside of matt who is just the best trooper and statistician EVER for almost every single game!) and i feel so incredibly blessed to have that kind of love and support from family. and to top off a great weekend, we got a surprise visit from brent and becca late on saturday night too! what a great week and weekend!

happy fall everyone!